Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Friday, April 23. 2010

Political QQQ

Via Chicago Boyz:



…There is also the problem of the elite’s lack of humility. I’m a pretty smart guy, and I think I could do a decent job of re-ordering the world if given absolute power.
 
But … It wouldn’t be right. It is not up to me to tell my fellow humans how to live. I think bowling, for instance, is stupid, though many people enjoy it. What/who gives me the right to tell bowlers that they should be going to the symphony instead?
 
But nobody is forcing me to go bowling and nobody is using my tax dollars to subsidize bowling, so I don’t care. Not my business, and not a problem. This is the essence of liberty.
 
For a thought experiment, substitute guns, french fries, or abortion for bowling above and see how you feel. The realization that you do not have the Moral Authority to try to construct a perfect world that eliminates what you dislike is the essence of humility. Many very bright people lack humility.


Posted by The Barrister in Politics at 10:25 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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I think it is more commonly the stupid people who happen to think they are bright who manifest a lack of humility. Exhibit A is Mrs. Blum, nee Feinstein, revealed above. I would also include Mr. Obama, Mr. Kerry and any number of other by-products of Harvard.
#1 Chazz on 2010-04-23 12:19 (Reply)
I agree with and understand what you're saying. However, I have a problem with abortion being included. How does the unborn person exercise his/her rights, liberty etc.?
#2 Rick on 2010-04-23 17:31 (Reply)
Ahh, Rick ... There is only one way unborn persons get to exercise their rights -- to free speech, to assembly, to the pursuit of happiness. They have to be born first. And sometimes, even that doesn't work. See ... the Federal Government gets to say whether you can exercise your 'rights' these days.

Traditionally, you could if you were an American citizen who is old enough to vote. But the Feds are making new rules all the time, along the parameters of the dreaded 'political correctness' which they have invested with all sorts of peripheral instructions, instructions which are enlarged and altered every day to make a more effective stick to beat yu with.

Marianne
#3 Marianne Matthews on 2010-04-23 21:27 (Reply)
No amount of respect for other people's right is necessarily going to relieve me of my obligation to step in and defend a helpless person who's about to be murdered.
#4 Texan99 on 2010-04-24 10:19 (Reply)
You're so right, Texan99. We have an obligation to our common humanity to protect those who are about to be attacked, even if the only weapons one has are rocks and stones -- and a cellphone to call 911.

Of course, if someone is attacked on my property, I have my trusty little Taurus The Judge handgun to even up the odds. But I don't have a carry permit. And besides, my model of the gun has a 6 1/2" barrel so it would be kind of unwieldy to carry. It does, however, fire 210 shotgun shells as well as 45 bullets. The shotgun shells almost guarantee that any home invader is going to leave bleeding from a generous assortment of shotgun pellets. And the longer barrel makes it almost like a sawed off shotgun as far as aiming it with accuracy, when your hands are somewhat shaky with arthritis. I think we could give a good account of ourselves, my little gun and I.

Marianne
#5 Marianne Matthews on 2010-04-24 23:21 (Reply)

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